- Apr 26, 2007
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A few notes to anyone dealing with sour crop:
Many people on these pages recommend doing a crop flush using a tube. You can find directions for that method by searching "sour crop".
We did not use the tube down the gullet approach. I didn't feel that I could manage it, and I felt badly about that, but there's a limit to my ability to perform procedures.
So please understand that I am not recommending the following approach, but I have read others in this forum using this method with varying results, and it was the method we used.
We got her to "vomit" it up by massaging the crop and tipping her forward a little bit. We didn't hold her upside down. Whatever was in the crop was already drooling out of her mouth, so it didn't take much massaging before it poured out. It was extremely disgusting stuff, it was very, very thick, had bits of solid material in it, and there was a lot of it, it really does smell terrible, and it WILL get on your clothes.
BE PREPARED: If you take that route, the chicken can aspirate the liquid and it can die, and it can die quickly. I knew there was a risk in doing what we did, but I was not really prepared for what happened - that she would stop breathing almost immediately. Some advise against the procedure for that reason.
If this happens to you, you can try a kind of Heimlich maneuver type of thing. I did, not really on purpose, but I lifted her head and pushed on her sides, and she began to breathe again but only with great difficulty and in a labored fashion. I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS WOULD ALWAYS WORK.
It still looked like she was going to die, but she did not. It's possible that she will get into trouble from having aspirated the fluid - I think they can sometimes get pneumonia from this - but I'm ready with the antibiotics if she does.
We'll see what happens, but just wanted to add our experience in case it can help someone else.
Many people on these pages recommend doing a crop flush using a tube. You can find directions for that method by searching "sour crop".
We did not use the tube down the gullet approach. I didn't feel that I could manage it, and I felt badly about that, but there's a limit to my ability to perform procedures.
So please understand that I am not recommending the following approach, but I have read others in this forum using this method with varying results, and it was the method we used.
We got her to "vomit" it up by massaging the crop and tipping her forward a little bit. We didn't hold her upside down. Whatever was in the crop was already drooling out of her mouth, so it didn't take much massaging before it poured out. It was extremely disgusting stuff, it was very, very thick, had bits of solid material in it, and there was a lot of it, it really does smell terrible, and it WILL get on your clothes.
BE PREPARED: If you take that route, the chicken can aspirate the liquid and it can die, and it can die quickly. I knew there was a risk in doing what we did, but I was not really prepared for what happened - that she would stop breathing almost immediately. Some advise against the procedure for that reason.
If this happens to you, you can try a kind of Heimlich maneuver type of thing. I did, not really on purpose, but I lifted her head and pushed on her sides, and she began to breathe again but only with great difficulty and in a labored fashion. I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS WOULD ALWAYS WORK.
It still looked like she was going to die, but she did not. It's possible that she will get into trouble from having aspirated the fluid - I think they can sometimes get pneumonia from this - but I'm ready with the antibiotics if she does.
We'll see what happens, but just wanted to add our experience in case it can help someone else.
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